Spotsylvania Memory New

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Spotsylvania Memory New A look at the historic people and places of Spotsylvania, Orange and Fredericksburg, Virginia.

A dessert shop that specializes in creating wonderfully tasty treats to tickle your fancy!

The Tricolor Restaurant on Geary near 6th Avenue, was one of several French restaurants in the area near the French Hosp...
13/06/2026

The Tricolor Restaurant on Geary near 6th Avenue, was one of several French restaurants in the area near the French Hospital.
Remember?

Many of us remember the Firestone building shown in the background. This building was the subject of a post yesterday wh...
12/06/2026

Many of us remember the Firestone building shown in the background. This building was the subject of a post yesterday which included Carver's Floors Service and most recently, Payon Fine Rug Imports.

12/06/2026

In September 1942, a poison spread through the Łódź Ghetto: all children under ten were to be deported. For Leo Grünwald, this meant his eight-year-old sister, Miriam, was marked for a journey to the death camps. Leo made a desperate choice. He hid her in a coal compartment beneath a workshop floor—a space so small it was a tomb for an adult, but a sanctuary for a child. He told her they were playing 'the quietest game in the world.'
For six agonizing days, Miriam clutched her one-eyed rag doll in the dark while the screams of thousands of other children filled the air outside. Leo was her only connection to the living, bringing scraps of potato peels and water under the cover of night. He even deliberately spilled polish on an officer's coat to draw attention away from the workshop, taking a brutal beating to keep his sister’s hiding spot a secret. This image of the girl in the dark is a chilling testament to the lengths a brother will go to protect his own. It’s a story of innocence preserved in the most horrific circumstances, where a game of silence became the difference between life and death. Miriam survived because Leo refused to let her become a statistic. How far would you go to protect a sibling's life?

White Tower hamburger restaurant in New York’s Meatpacking District. (1976)
11/06/2026

White Tower hamburger restaurant in New York’s Meatpacking District. (1976)

Boston writer George Patullo receives a haircut by a "barber" in front of a line cabin on the Matador Ranch, 1908. The ...
11/06/2026

Boston writer George Patullo receives a haircut by a "barber" in front of a line cabin on the Matador Ranch, 1908. The Matador Ranch, along with the King Ranch, the 6666, the Waggoner Ranch, the Pitchfork Ranch and a few others, is one of Texas' iconic ranches. It was founded in 1878 by Henry H. "Hank" Campbell and Alfred M. Britton and originally was only 320 acres. But, astonishingly, a mere three years later it had grown to comprise more than 1.5 million acres --- roughly twice the size of Big Bend National Park.
Today the ranch is "only" 131,000 acres. It's in Cottle, Crosby and Floyd Counties and is located about 65 miles northeast of Lubbock. I'm kinda thinking the barber in this photo has a proper barber's license on account of being an actual working cowboy. 😀 I've read some accounts about poorly or hastily constructed line cabins that were brutally cold when a norther came sweeping through the Panhandle, but others, well constructed and cut into the earth like this one, were surprisingly cozy.
Taken by the great Erwin E. Smith and courtesy the Amon Carter Museum of American Art Museum of American Art in Fort Worth --- one of the truly great museums in Texas.

A forest mural in the South Bronx painted by Alan Sonfist. (1983)Photo by Thomas Hoepker
10/06/2026

A forest mural in the South Bronx painted by Alan Sonfist. (1983)
Photo by Thomas Hoepker

61 years ago today, on June 3, 1965, Astronaut Edward H. White II, who was born in San Antonio, became the first Americ...
09/06/2026

61 years ago today, on June 3, 1965, Astronaut Edward H. White II, who was born in San Antonio, became the first American to step outside his spacecraft and let go, effectively setting himself adrift in the microgravity of space. For 23 minutes White floated and maneuvered himself around the Gemini spacecraft while logging 6500 miles during his orbital stroll. White was attached to the spacecraft by a 25-foot umbilical line and a 23-ft. tether line, both wrapped in gold tape to form one cord. In his right hand, White carried a Hand Held Self Maneuvering Unit (HHSMU) which was used to move about the weightless environment of space. The visor of his helmet was gold-plated to protect him from the unfiltered rays of the sun.
Tragically, Ed White died on January 27, 1967, when Apollo 1 caught fire atop its Saturn IB booster on Launch Pad 34 at Cape Kennedy.
You know, I read about the event and you I see the pictures and am awed. And every time I hear about this or see a picture or video, I am amazed at the “courage” it took to do it ---- and the trust. Trust in all the people that it took to develop, build and execute this amazing historical feat. Trust in technology. Trust that nobody got a single detail wrong. Trust that it could even be done at all. I think of all of this as I sit behind my desk, watching the birds outside my window, drinking my coffee, and feeling inconsequential.

Hand colored painting of Fredericksburg c1913.
09/06/2026

Hand colored painting of Fredericksburg c1913.

09/06/2026

He was discovered alone inside a worn cardboard box beside a quiet road — and for decades, nobody even knew the little boy’s name. On a bitter February afternoon in 1957, a college student checking muskrat traps near Philadelphia noticed something strange hidden among the brush near the roadside. Inside the discarded box lay the body of a young child wrapped carefully in a blanket. The scene stunned investigators immediately. The boy appeared to be only a few years old, yet no one nearby recognized him, and there were no obvious clues explaining how he had ended up abandoned there. Police launched one of the largest investigations in the region’s history, desperate to uncover who the child was and what had happened to him before his death.
As the story spread across America, the unidentified child became known simply as “The Boy in the Box.” Authorities distributed sketches, photographs, and descriptions nationwide while detectives chased thousands of leads in search of answers. Witnesses offered theories, rumors, and possible sightings. Some believed the boy had come from a hidden abusive home somewhere nearby. Others suspected he had been abandoned by people determined to erase his identity forever. Yet every promising lead eventually dissolved into frustration and dead ends. Historical accounts describe investigators knocking on doors for years while newspapers continued publishing the haunting image of the unknown child whose short life seemed to have disappeared without explanation. What disturbed the public most was the terrible feeling that no one appeared to be searching for him — no family publicly grieving him, no missing-person report that clearly matched him, and no confirmed name to place upon his grave.
What made the case especially heartbreaking was not only the mystery itself, but the overwhelming loneliness surrounding it. While many crimes slowly faded from public memory, Americans continued remembering the nameless child left inside that box beside the road. Detectives carried the investigation across generations, refusing to allow him to vanish completely into history. Decades later, advances in forensic science would finally

McWhirt's Store at Enon and Truslow Road. In the mid-60's my first high school date was with a lovely young lady, Barb...
08/06/2026

McWhirt's Store at Enon and Truslow Road. In the mid-60's my first high school date was with a lovely young lady, Barbara McWhirt, whose parents ran this store in Stafford County.

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